The Social Welfare Bureau’s (IAS) Drug Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Department Chief Richard Cheang Io Tat told the media yesterday that the number of registered drug users in Macau last year dropped by 60 percent year on year to 85, of whom four were aged below 21, adding he believed that the drop in the number was due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic last year when some of Macau’s social service agencies suspended their operations, affecting the registration work.
According to Cheang, there has been no “significant” decrease in the average number of drug users seeking help for drug rehabilitation in recent years, which stood at 400 to 500 per year.
Cheang noted that the prevalence of drug abuse in Macau is at a low level compared with Europe, the US or other regions.
Considering that some of the drug users have only been seeking help from the bureau in recent years after taking drugs for seven to eight years already, unlike in the past when they would seek help after taking drugs for just a short period of time, Cheang said that the bureau has drafted a plan to optimise its central registration system for drug abusers next year, including a review on whether to adjust the amount of time an user can claim they have been abusing drugs.
Cheang also said that the bureau extended the period that drug users can report their habit to the government’s central registration system from the previous three months to six months or more, adding that the number of people who signed for central registration increased after the adjustment, which has been implemented on a trial basis.
Cheang said he expected that the relevant optimisation work concerning drug abuse will be carried out by local tertiary education institutions in the second half of this year, in combination with the actual situation in Macau and the international definition of drug abuse. He did not elaborate.
Cheang made the remarks on the sidelines of a kick-off ceremony of a raft of activities commemorating the annual International Anti-Drug Day on June 26, on the City University of Macau’s (CityU) campus in Taipa.
Meanwhile, with the aim of raising public awareness of the importance of an anti-drug and healthy lifestyle, while also calling on civil society to participate in the city’s anti-drug work, the Social Welfare Bureau once again joined hands with a string of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to roll out over 100 activities themed “Anti-Drug Participation in Healthy Workplaces” between this month and August.
IAS Deputy Director Hoi Va Pou said in a speech during the ceremony that the local government, in recent years, has been promoting the professional development of addiction treatment by adopting its “three-reduction” policy, namely, reducing supply, reducing demand and reducing harm, to promote anti-drug work, adding that the bureau will continue to support non-governmental organisations to hold various types of systematic training to enhance the theoretical knowledge and counselling skills of frontline staff in drug addiction treatment.
The Social Welfare Bureau’s (IAS) Drug Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Department Chief Richard Cheang Io Tat speaks to reporters after yesterday’s kick-off ceremony of a three-month-long event celebrating the annual International Anti-Drug Day, on the City University of Macau’s (CityU) campus in Taipa.
– Photo: Yuki Lei
